As part of her book tour for Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem, I have author Vera Jane Cook here today to answer a few questions.

What’s the hardest part of writing a book?
Making sure the plot makes sense. I think structuring a good plot is very difficult. Also, character development. It’s important to make sure all the decisions your character makes are appropriate to the personality you’ve created. I recently read a book in which the main character is Mr. Sensitivity but by the end of the book he’d turned into a monster. As the reader, I should have seen that coming. That doesn’t make sense to me. Everything about a book should make sense even when it is extremely out of the ordinary.

What’s your favourite part of writing a book?
The editing process. All the hard work has been done and I get to sit and re-read and re-edit and hopefully, work with an editor with great feedback.

What are your thoughts on ebooks? (i.e. love them, hate them, wave of the future)
I love my Kindle now but never thought I would. It’s just so easy to carry. Actually, I still love the hard covers but ebooks are here to stay and will become more and more popular than they already are. I miss having an actual book in my hands, especially my own since my most recent books are ebooks but there’s something just so simple about it.

Do you read reviews written about your book?
Yes, I do.

How do you deal with negative reviews?
I fantasize that the reviewer writing the negative review gets eaten by a dragon, chewed into many, many little pieces and spit to the wind.

Did you base any of the characters on real people?
My characters come from my imagination but are influenced by people I know or have heard about.

Vera Jane Cook, writer of Award Winning Women’s Fiction, is the author of Dancing Backward in Paradise, The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, and Lies a River Deep. In the paranormal genre, Vera Jane is the author of Annabel Horton, Lost Witch of Salem.

Jane, as she is known to family and friends, was born in New York City and grew up amid the eccentricity of her southern and glamorous mother on the Upper West and Upper East Side of Manhattan. An only child, Jane turned to reading novels at an early age and was deeply influenced by an eclectic group of authors.

Jane has completed ten novels. Her first published novel, Dancing Backward in Paradise, will be republished by Musa in November, 2012. Dancing Backward In Paradise received rave reviews from Midwest book review and Armchair Interviews. It also won the Eric Hoffer Award for publishing excellence and the Indie Excellence Award for notable new fiction, 2007. The Story of Sassy Sweetwater received a 5 Star ForeWord Clarion Review. Jane has published in ESL Magazine, Christopher Street Magazine and has written several newsletters and online blogs. Jane has also written early childhood curriculum. Her published curriculum has been for Weekly Reader and McGraw Hill.

The author lives on the Upper West side of Manhattan with her long term partner, her Basenji/Chihuahua mix, Roxie, her chihuahua puppy, Peanut, and her two pussy cats, Sassy and Sweetie Pie.

From the Salem Witch trials through the Nineteenth Century and beyond, Annabel Horton is pursued by the devil’s disciple, Urban Grandier, the demonic priest from the incident at Loudon. She must take the bodies of those that the devil favors to protect her family. She must uncover the motive behind the illusive Ursula/Louis Bossidan, the scandalous cross-dresser who is pursuing her beautiful granddaughter, and she must learn, being one of God’s most powerful witches, how to use her power. But will it be enough to save her husband from Urbain’s fiery inferno? Will it be enough to save her children from demons greater than themselves? Read on, you will learn more…